Improvement in harvester-cutters



NITEDl .STATES FFIOE.

PATENT JOHN H. MANNY, OF ROGKFORD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO PETER H. WATSON.

ilVlPROVvEIVI ENT IN HARVESTER-CUTTERS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. llly'illl, dated March 25, 1856.

lo all 'whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. MANNY, of Rockford, in `the county of Winnebago and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Sickle for Harvestiiig-Machines, which I denominate theReversibleDupleX Sickle, of which the ollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which make part ot' this specification, and in which- Figure l is a plan of a sickle embracing my improvement, one edge being serrated and the other smooth.` Fig. 2 represents a view of the same turned bottom side uppermost.

My invention and improvement consists in' constructing a sickle with two edges in such manner that either of them may at will be presented toward the front ofthe machine tO cut grain or grass, so that in ease one edge be comes dull or inj ured the other may be brought into use, or it' one edge is serrated and the other smooth, one scalloped and the other straight, or it' they are otherwise diversified, that edge which is best adapted for any particular circumstance or occasion ought to be used. Y

The accompanying drawings represent a sickle or cutter composed ot' a bar or stock,ta, to which a series ot'.quadrilateral plates, b, are secured by rivets or screws, which plates have their four edges sharpened, two adjacent edges being plain and theother two serrated. These plates are secured to the bar in such manner that the corner at which the two plain edges meet will project on one side of the bar, and the opposite corner at which the two serrated edges meet will project on the opposite side of the bar, the two corners at which the plain and serrated edges meet being on a line parallel to the edge of the stock. At each end ot' the series of plates a clearing-hook, c, is secured to the stock c, the hooks being bent inward, so thatwhen they enter the guides or bearings in the guards or divider they willtend to push the stalks ot grass or other ber aside instead ot'pnshing it directly into the opening in the guard, and when they are withdrawn from the opening they will tend to hookl and draw crit any tibers that may have been forced in. Thus the action of the hooks will be such as to prevent an accumulation of fiber in the guides in which these hooks and the extremities ot' the sickle play that would cause great friction or endanger clogging.

v The stock of the sickle, unlike others heretofore known, has an eye, d, at each end to connect with the connecting-rod by which it is vibrated.y By this means the two ends of the sickle may be reversed in position to turn either edge 'ot' the sickle foremost, as may be desired. f f

lt' the sickle were constructed either without a stock or with the stock projecting equallyon both sides ofthe plates, instead of on one side only, as shown inthe example represented in the drawings, then the edges ot' the sickle could be reversed by simply turning it over, and without reversing its ends.

The sickle-blade can be made of a single picce,or of any number of pieces less than that shown in the drawings, or it may he varied otherwise, as my invention relates to the reversibility of a two-edged sickle and not to its form, construction, or operation in other respects.

. Among the advantages ot' this kind of sickle may be mentioned its superior durability, for having two edges to wear they will necessarily last longer than oneedge would. Further, that as one edge may be serrated and more especially adapted to cutting grain and the other smooth and better adapted to cutting grass, the same sickle will answer for both reaping and mowing, whereas heretoforeitrequired a separate sickle for each of these purposes, and I'have always supplied machines with two. Y

\Vl1at I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The reversible duplex sickle, substantially as herein described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

JOHN H. MANNY.

In presence Otl- J Essn BLIME, NEWTON CRAWFORD. 

